Disclaimer: I don't own any character you recognize from the show. I only own the Casey kids. Damien and his sister and mother are inspired by a actual people who serve as a constant inspiration for this series I can't thank them enough for always being who they are and giving me lots of great material.

Spoilers: None

Warinings: None

Stuck in the middle

"But Mom!" Jacob frowned and pouted as he swallowed his cereal, "I'll only have babies to play with! Why can't I stay home with Andy?"

"Because your brother's still in leg cast. Now I'm not saying anything else. Eat up."

The week had been hot in Chicago and Gabby has been stuck at home with the kids for most of the week, all of them getting board. The mother of Ella's friend Damien had invited them to one of the largest splash pads in t he city today. Ella was very exited, the only problem was she had two kids were 3 and 6. Jacob at 8 didn't want to play with younger children, especially girls. Matt was on shift, Ellie at rehearsal and with Andy still in a cast and pretty miserable Gabby was taking a very miserable Jacob along.

"I wish KJ wasn't on vacation," Jacob mumbled to himself as he got up from his chair and brought his bowl to the sink. K.J his best friend, who was the son of his parents best friend Kelly was in Florida with his family for a week.

Me too Gabby agreed in her head; If not on vacation Gabby knew Jacob would be more then welcome at his godparents house. If she'd known that today Jacob decided he didn't want to go she would have tried to make other arrangements, but he seemed very exited two days ago when she's told him.

"When can I stay home Mom? It's not my fault Ellie has her stupid play," He sighed. Since his older sister was always away he was being treated younger and not older. He wished his parents would let him stay home by himself and look after Ella; things Ellie would get to do. Instead he was constantly told he was either two young or to old for things, like last week when they were at an indoor playground and there was hardly anything for him to do because he was either to short or to tall.

"When you're older," Gabby repeated what she seemed to be saying a lot lately, "I know things are crazy right now but things will settle when school starts in three weeks." She was saying that to herself as well as her son. She was feeling very stressed out with having to take care of Andy and bring along Ella and Jacob when she dropped Ellie off at the theatre at five o'clock in the morning.

"Mommy, I'm all ready!" Ella, who didn't want to go back to sleep when they got home from taking Ellie to rehearsal ran into the kitchen. She was wearing a pink t-shirt and bathing suit shorts. "Let's go now!" She started bouncing up and down.

"In a minute Ella," Gabby knew her daughter was a good mood now but she'd crash by late afternoon due to not getting enough sleep. "First lets make sure we have everything. Come and bring me your pink bag."

Ella grabbed the bag from the floor beside her and ran over, "I putted in extra clothes like you told me to Mommy," She announced, "And some pony tails and a brush that doesn't hurt." She had long, thick curly hair, a nightmare to brush but she liked having it long, so Gabby just always made sure to have lots of brushes and ponytails

"Good, now we need some sun screen, a towel, your hat and some flip-flops for you to wear." Being a paramedic she knew what kind of germs and bacteria were on the floors of the splash pads, so she had her children wear flip-flops while playing. She finished filling up the bag, "Now we just need Jake and we're all set."

"Jakey!" Ella screamed for her older brother, "Hurry up!" She ran towards the stairs leading the second floor, "Lets go!"

"Don't yell at me!" Jacob frowned as he walked down the stairs, "You have to listen to me, I'm older."

"No! I don't have to do what boys say!" Ella told him, "Girls are better then boys."

Jacob yanked Ella's hair out her braid and smiled as she went crying to their mother. If he acted badly then he'd get to stay home.

"Jacob!" Gabby walked towards him a stern expression on her face, "You know better then to hurt your little sister. Is this because I let you start boxing with Diego? Jacob had taken up an interest in boxing so Gabby and Matt had agreed to let him start training with Diego.

"No!" Jacob shook his head. "No its not!" Angry his plan failed he sighed, "I'll be good, even if I do have to play with babies today."

"You'll have fun I promise. This splash pad is the one right across the street from Diego's apartment building. You know the one you saw last week when he took you to his apartment after camp."

"Can we go and see Diego?" Jacob asked excitedly. He loved his older cousin and looked up to him as if he was another older brother. Since they looked so much alike people had mistaken Diego for his father. He was always disappointed when Diego was quick to correct them,

Gabby realized that probably wasn't the best thing to tell her son but he would have known where they were anyways when they got there. Plus she hoped if he knew it was that one he'd get more excited, "No sorry. Diego's girlfriend is on shift today and he's looking after her son. I'm not sure a big splash pad like that is a good place for Lucas, remember he's only one. Besides you saw him a few days ago."

"I like Diego and Megan and even Lucas," Jacob told her, "He's cute, unlike Ella who is just annoying."

"No, I'm cute," Ella informed her older brother, "Lucas cute too." She agreed about the toddler who she loved to play with.

Jacob sighed again as his mother handed him his backpack and he followed her and Ella out to the car.

They got to the splash pad to find it very busy, which wasn't a surprise considering how hot it was outside. Gabby took Ella's hand and kept an eye on Jacob as she texted Allison to meet up with them. Allison and her kids were standing near one of the water climbers and Ella took off running. She ran so fast her backpack swung off her back causing it to get wet.

"Mommy!" Ella sniffled as she looked at her backpack and began to cry. "Mommy its wet! Everything's ruined!"

As Gabby went to comfort her daughter Damien walked to pick up the wet backpack and hand it to Ella, "Here Ella. You can have my towel." He told her smiling. He hugged her and she hugged him back.

"Well that's very nice of you Damien," Gabby praised the young boy, always amazed at how sweet and kind he could be to Ella. "Ella you say thank you."

"Thank you," Ella kissed Damien on the cheek before taking his hand and the both of them going off to play.

"Stay where we can see you!" Allison called after them. It was a large splash pad and very crowded the last thing she wanted was to loose her three year old son.

"Jacob do you want to go on the water slide with me?" Six yea-old Aisha asked Jacob. "It's really big!"

"No, it's a baby slide," He rolled his eyes, "I'm not a baby!"

"Jacob, Aisha was trying to be nice," Gabby told her son, "I know you don't want to be here but I also know you'll have fun if you stop being so miserable. It's a hot day outside and you're surrounded by water, g get wet, it'll make you feel better."

Jacob mumbled under his breath as he walked off with Aisha. Despite not wanting to he did have a good time with her. She was funny and he was impressed she knew French as well as he knew Spanish. They mostly played on the water climber and had fun jumping on the plush lily pads and spraying each other with water guns.

But whenever Jacob saw the apartment building Diego lived in he remembered how angry he was. He was sure his cousin was home and he knew he'd have more fun with him.

At lunchtime drew near Gabby and Allison got out the picnic style lunches they'd packed. They each brought different thins so the kids and they would have more to choose from. Damien was a little bit of a picky eater but the other kids were all right. Allison was often impressed though that Ella wasn't afraid to try anything, even oysters and was even more amazed her favourite foods were foods that most adults didn't like. She loved oysters and shrimp and Thai food and things that were very spicy.

Damien and Ella walked up to where their mothers were and ran to the picnic table each hungry. However no sooner had they approached did Gabby know that Ella had an accident, she could smell it. She wasn't surprised, Ella was potty trained but there was so much to do and she was easily distracted.

"Come on Ella," She picked up her daughter's now dry backpack, "Lets go" She reached her hand out for her daughter to take. "Can you watch Jake when he and Olivia get back?" Gabby asked Allison.

"Of course."

"Thanks."

Jacob looked up at the condo buildings in front of him and took a deep breath. In the back of his mind he knew he'd get into trouble for this, serious trouble but he was tired of either being to old or two young for things. Diego never treated him like a baby and let him do things his parents didn't. If he couldn't live with Diego then maybe he'd run away. He spoke fluent Spanish so he could live in Mexico. He thanked a woman who held the door to the complex open for him and went to the elevator. Diego told him he lived on the tenth floor in 1009. He waited for the elevator to come and he got in. People looked at him and he was afraid someone was going to say something but no one did. Getting out he walked down the hallway looking for the apartment door and knocked. Diego could see someone look through the peephole and then quickly open the door.

"Jacob," Diego opened the door, Lucas on his hip, he took a look down the hallway and sighed, "Where are your parents? Why are you wet?" He indicated the boys clothing. He set Lucas on the ground, much to the toddler's frustration and ushered his cousin in.

"I was at the splash pad," Jacob explained, "I wanted you to come but Mom said no. I decided I'm going to live here," He looked at Diego and smiled, "You don't treat me like I'm a baby. Mom and Dad do."

"Oh," Diego shook his head. He couldn't believe this was happening again. He was having flashbacks to when Andy ran away when he was watching him. Andy was only four but he'd ended up at District twenty-one, thinking running away was a game. He was frustrated at Ellie and a then infant Jacob getting all of the attention. "Well maybe you should ask your brother," He sighed as he got out his cell phone, "I'm calling your mother. She's going to be worried."

"Why should I ask Andy?" Jacob asked but Diego didn't answer as he was talking on the phone. He walked over to where Lucas was playing and sat down. Lucas handed him a few blocks and smiled as Jacob stacked them and waited until he knocked them over.

"Your mother's coming over here. You made her worried sick!" Diego had never been so angry with anyone in his life. He was almost positive he wouldn't be reacting like this if he didn't have Lucas and Megan in his life. He loved Lucas like a son and he could now imagine how scared and panicked his aunt must have been when she realized Jacob was lost. "I don't think I've ever been more disappointed in anyone," Diego stared at him.

Jacob frowned, angry tears streaming down his face, "You can't tell me what to do!" He ran towards the door, Diego moved quickly to block it, "Let me go!" Jacob yelled, trying to get past Diego but he was too strong. All Diego had to do was hold his forehead to restrict Jacob's movements. After fighting his cousin for a few minutes Jacob collapsed on the floor and cried. "It's not fair! I'm always to little or to big for everything!"

Diego didn't' know what to do, a part of him wanted to comfort the boy he didn't want to reward him for running away either. Finally he decided to leave him alone and go play with Lucas until his aunt came. He buzzed Gabby up and opened the door for her, his aunt running to Jacob and hugging him.

"You had me worried sick!" She hugged him, tears still in her eyes, "You could have been kidnapped or hit by a car. You're not supposed to be crossing the street on your own."

"But I'm not a baby!" Jacob tried to wriggle free of his mom's hold, "I did cross the street on my own. I did everything I was supposed to do."

"We'll talk about it later," Gabby told him, she was still emotional from being worried about him to think straight. "Now I don't think you should go back to the waterpark but I don't want you going home either," She finally realized she'd need to find somewhere for him to go for a few hours. "Maybe Aunt Laura needs some help at her store."

"I can watch him," Diego offered, "There are lots of things around here he can do. Fold and put away laundry. Clean the kitchen, put away toys. You can dust too." Diego was going to make this as miserable as he could for his cousin, he never wanted him to run away again, "And we can talk about how he'd going to be missing his boxing lesson for the next two weeks."

Jacob crossed his arms, "I don't like you anymore," He looked at Diego.

That stung Diego as he loved his cousin deeply and was only trying to do what was best for him. It was then he realised he needed to call his parents and apologize for all of the times he told them that he didn't love them anymore.

"That sounds good, thanks Diego," Gabby appreciated her nephew's offer, "It should only bed for a few hours. I don; think Ella will last very long."

"No problem," Diego told her, "Like I said there are lots of things for Jacob to be doing.

When Jacob walked into the kitchen the next day he peaked his head in to make sure his father wasn't there. While spending most of the afternoon at Diego's cleaning he had the chance to think about what he did. He still thought it was the best course of action considering he wanted to be treated older. But what he did think about was how mad his father would be when he found out. His shift ended at nine o'clock but sometimes he got home later.

"Jacob!" Matt stood up from his chair and motioned with his finger for Jacob to come closer, "Your mother just told me what you did yesterday. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I was already punished." Jacob decided maybe that was the best thing to say.

"I don't care how much cleaning you did at your cousins house," Matt warned, "Now come here and look me in eyes when I'm talking to you," He ordered. Having been a Lieutenant and then Fire Chief for many years helped him in disciplining his children he found.

Jacob walked forward and looked at his father, "I'm not really sorry," He told the truth, "I didn't want to go to the splash pad and play with younger children. I want to be treated like I'm older, I'm very mature."

Matt took a deep breath and counted to ten so he didn't yell at his son. Jacob was very much like his mother, and he had the Dawson stubbornness and single-mindedness that got his mother in trouble as a child and on the job as well. Unlike his mother and older sister Ellie he didn't have the ability to talk himself out of situations, instead he often got even more angry and single-minded when he was in trouble. As he got older this was becoming even harder to manage. None of this was helped by the fact that he was smart, very smart. Matt and Gabby were sure he would be accepted into a private school with more changeling classes, they didn't have the money for that though and for right now he seemed fine at the school he was at.

"Jacob, running away doesn't show your mother and I you want to be treated like a older child. Running away shows immaturity because you don't know how do deal with difficult problems. Life is full of thing we don't want to do but we can't always get what we want. We can't run away either. You worried your mother sick, do you know that? And you worried your younger sister too? Everything you do affects other people Jacob."

"Dad I'm always to young to do something, like stating home alone or to old to do something, like play on the play gym I wanted to. I can't do anything."

Matt could tell his son was upset, and he did have a point. He was to tall or to short, to young or to old for a lot of things. Matt knew though that Jacob knew better then to run away, he was a smart kid. "I know you're frustrated right now Jacob but you need to understand that the choices you make affect other people. What do you think would happen if one of my men decided to stay in a building that was one fire when I gave the evacuation order? Matt knew that using his work as an example might seem a bit extreme but he needed Jacob to understand that he couldn't do whatever he wanted. His behaviour only seemed to be getting worse in that regard and Matt wanted it stopped.

"They'd die, or someone would have to rescue them. Then they could both die," Jacob responded.

"Right. Now I know that the decisions you have to make aren't life or death and I know making decisions can be hard but you did cause a lot of ripple effects. Your mother was very worried about you and that made Ella very upset and it wrecked her day with her friend, something she'd been looking forward to."

Jacob looked down at the floor, "I didn't mean for that to happen I was-"

"You were acting selfishly," Matt, answered him, "Selfish behaviour isn't okay Jacob. When you have a problem like waning to be treated older and given more attention you come to talk to your mother and I. We do out best to try and pay attention to everyone but there's a lot going on alright?"

"Yeah, so I guess this means I'm still going to be treated like a baby?" Jacob should have guessed the answer. He hated how what he did had the opposite affect of what he wanted but he supposed he deserved that.

"It means that for the next two weeks you're going to be grounded. No friends over, no time on the IPAD and I think maybe you can do some of Andy's chores." Matt knew that was probably what Jacob wanted but it would be a big help, "And then if your mother and I feel that you can do them we'll talk about how we can help you feel like you're being treated like an eight year old. As for getting more attention, "I know it's been hard with Ellie at rehearsals and Andy's broken leg, Ella's the youngest so she needs attention too. We didn't mean to make you feel left out, but before all of this happened I was very impressed at how you seemed to be handling things. You helped your mother out by playing with Ella and Damien the other day so she could get some work done. When you're older and I mean ten or eleven then we can talk about you staying home alone, looking after your younger sister is something you won't be doing alone until you're older. Andy didn't stay home by himself until we was almost eleven and Ellie hasn't ever stayed on her own."

"Really?" Jacob hadn't realized that but he had no reason to believe his father was lying. He looked as his mother came back into the kitchen after picking up Damien and his older sister. Their mother had gotten called into work at the last minute and she'd called Gabby in a panic asking id she could watch the kids. Jacob stood up from his chair and walked over to his mother and hugged her, "I'm sorry Mom. I didn't mean to make you so upset."

Gabby looked down at her son and kissed his dark head of hair. Jacob was a good kid and she really believed him running away was a one off occurrence, "I know sweetie. I love you, always remember that."

"I love you too," Jacob hugged her; he looked up at her and took a step back, "Is Diego really mad at me? Does he hate me?" The last thing he'd ever want to do was to upset his cousin.

"I think he was disappointed in you but I know he doesn't hate you," Gabby had noticed that her nephew seemed overly angry at Jacob, more angry then she'd ever seen him at one of her children, and he'd babysat them a lot, even then they' d gotten in trouble. She guessed it had something to do with the fact that he'd stepped into the father role for Lucas, when she'd mentioned how scared she was he could imagine how scared he'd be if anything happened to Lucas. Having that feeling for the first time was very scary in its self.

"I hope he still lets me hang out with him and Lucas. I really like it."

"I think in two weeks when he starts giving you boxing lessons again you will," Gabby promised, "If you want you can call him and apologize, that would be nice. Why don't you go and do that now and then you can go outside and play with Ella, Damien and Olivia."

"Alright." Jacob nodded and took his mother's cell phone as she handed it to him.

THE END